State Sen. Barry Finegold, D-Andover, announced his bid for the office of treasurer on Wednesday.

This week, before his announcement, Finegold visited The Herald News and talked about his humble upbringing, his goal to protect taxpayers and his campaign for financial literacy.

The son of educators, Finegold said he learned the value of hard work and the struggle of middle class families.

"I've had nothing handed to me, and I'm a strong advocate of every taxpayer and will be the steward and gatekeeper of the state's finances," Finegold said.

A second-term state senator, Finegold worked days and took night school courses, putting himself through Massachusetts School of Law in Andover and graduating in 1998. He was admitted to the Massachusetts bar the same year and holds a master's degree in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. In 1999, he won the Kennedy School Fenn Award for Political Leadership, and in 2003, he was selected as one of the top 100 young "Democrats to Watch" by the Democratic Leadership Council.

In 2009, Finegold was named chairman of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy. He said he championed renewable energy policies that have helped make Massachusetts a leader in clean energy.

Finegold took on a contested primary and general election for the state Senate seat in 2010, and went on to win the race to represent the Second Essex and Middlesex District, which includes all of Andover, Dracut, Lawrence and Tewksbury. He was re-elected in 2012, winning every precinct in all four communities. He has served as the Senate chairman of the Joint Committee on Election Laws since he was first sworn into the Senate in 2011.

Finegold has worked on education and election law reform. The Senate recently passed the first election reform bill in decades, a bill aimed at modernizing the state's election laws and making Massachusetts a national leader in ensuring free, fair and accessible elections. The bill included provisions for early voting, same-day registration, election audits, online voter registration and pre-registration for 16- and 17-year-olds.

He is joined in the treasurer's race by Democrats Thomas Conroy, a Wayland state representative, and Deborah Goldberg, who unsuccessfully ran for lieutenant governor in 2006. Republican Mike Heffernan, the owner of a mobile technology startup from Wellesley, announced his candidacy early this week.